Renters in England are still seeing huge rent increases approved by tribunals, with one case allowing an 88% jump, underscoring how hard it remains to rein in housing costs even after Labour’s reforms.
England rent tribunals still approve big increases
That matters because the Renters’ Reform Act was supposed to give tenants a safer way to challenge unfair increases without fear of retaliation. Instead, the early evidence suggests the system is easing access to appeals but not delivering the broad rent restraint many tenants expected. For households already stretched by the cost of living, a tribunal process that still approves large increases can quickly turn into a fight over affordability rather than fairness.
Analysis by the London Renters Union of cases from May to October found that 80% of tenants who went to tribunal saw their rent rise anyway, by an average of £1,200 a year. In 36% of cases, the landlord’s proposed increase was approved in full. Another 42% were reduced, while 16% were cancelled and 6% were lowered. In one Dagenham case, a monthly rent of £1,200 was lifted to £2,250 despite the tenant’s argument that the move would create undue hardship.
For investors, the significance is less about a single tribunal ruling than about what it says about the UK rental market. Britain’s housing shortage is still giving landlords pricing power, especially in areas where rents are climbing quickly. A tribunal system that relies on “fair market rent” can only do so much when the market itself is moving up sharply. That means the reform may curb the most aggressive tactics, but it does not amount to true rent control.
Landlord groups say the problem is a different one: an overworked tribunal system struggling to process cases consistently. The National Residential Landlords Association said judgments are increasingly based on quick online comparisons and that there are only just over 30 full-time judges across the country. Tenants, meanwhile, say long delays and a patchy standard of decision-making are making the process harder to trust. London renters have even been asked to attend hearings in the Midlands because of backlogs.
The government says the system is already helping by preventing landlords from using rent hikes as a backdoor eviction method and by stopping increases from being backdated before tribunal decisions. The £47 filing fee also keeps the barrier to challenge relatively low. But the bigger issue for the market is that the tribunal process is still case by case, not a mechanism for controlling rents across the economy.
For long-term investors, especially in housing-linked assets, that is the key takeaway: persistent rent inflation is likely to remain a structural feature of the UK market unless supply improves materially. The tribunal reforms may soften some of the sharpest edges, but they do not change the underlying imbalance between demand and housing stock. Renters may keep fighting for relief one case at a time, while landlords with pricing power can still win meaningful increases.
| Entity | Gains | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Tenants challenging hikes | ▲Easier access to tribunal | ▼Higher rents still approved |
| Landlords | ▲Ability to justify market-based increases | ▼More disputes and delays |
| UK government | ▲Fewer retaliatory eviction risks | ▼Pressure to tighten rent policy |
| Housing market overall | ▲Greater visibility on rent setting | ▼Ongoing affordability strain |
